Captive elephant reproduction programmes raise complex welfare questions about breeding, maternal care, and the welfare of offspring in zoo environments.
Elephant breeding in captivity requires interventions that cause stress to female elephants — hormonal assessment, artificial insemination, and welfare monitoring during pregnancy. Naive mothers in captive conditions may not receive adequate social support from experienced females that would normally assist in birth and calf rearing. Hand-reared calves lack the social learning that is central to elephant development and show persistent behavioural abnormalities as adults.